It’s been an exceptional year for SoFi (NASDAQ:SOFI), as shares of the company are up by about 60% so far. This comes in light of an all-time high in revenue, the resumption of student loan payments, and rising deposits.
Yesterday, the all-in-one personal finance platform announced that it would cease its cryptocurrency services beginning on Dec. 19. Existing customers will be given the option to transfer their account to Blockchain.com, while access to the creation of new cryptocurrency accounts on the platform has already been ceased.
A SoFi spokesperson stated that the decision was made due to Federal Reserve regulatory concerns. In addition, SoFi’s bank charter, which it received last year, was conditionally received on the terms that it would receive the needed approvals for its cryptocurrency services or end it completely. The Fed stated that SoFi’s cryptocurrency subsidiary, SoFi Digital Assets, was “engaged in certain crypto-related activities that the Federal Reserve has not found to be permissible for a bank holding company.”
Another factor was the Fed’s novel activities supervision program, which launched in August. The program increased scrutiny of cryptocurrency activities provided by banking organizations.
5 Investors Betting Big on SOFI Stock
Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for stocks. During the third quarter, 487 13F filers disclosed a stake in SOFI stock, a decline of 13 filers from the prior quarter. Seven of those filers own SoFi in their top 10 positions. In total, the filers own 345.49 million shares, down by 1.78% from 351.77 million shares when compared to the second quarter. Overall, aggregate institutional ownership of the company doesn’t appear to have significantly changed.
Hedge funds, which are included in 13F statistics, leaned more bearish. Total shares owned by hedge funds totaled 74.47 million shares, down by 9.33%. Generally, hedge funds carry a lower holding period than your average 13F filer.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at SoFi’s five largest shareholders as of the third quarter:
- Vanguard: 76.40 million shares. Vanguard acquired 2.56 million shares during Q3.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 40.77 million shares. BlackRock acquired 2.64 million shares during Q3.
- Silver Lake Group: 31.15 million shares. Silver Lake’s stake remained unchanged during Q3.
- Two Sigma: 15.16 million shares. Two Sigma acquired 5.58 million shares during Q3.
- State Street (NYSE:STT): 14.97 million shares. State Street acquired 1.28 million shares during Q3.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
